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Listed below are comments made by WebPendragon between Wednesday, 22nd October 2008 and Thursday, 24th September 2009.

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Not so special? 09:23am on 24 Sep 2009 If not being "special" entails not being dragged into America's latest military adventure and even maybe having an independant Foreign Policy,I do not want to be special.

The BBC seems to delight in appointing America Correspondents that love nothing more than to engage in sniping at our own Country and sucking up to American contacts.

Mr Mardell should stick to his trade and leave History alone.The unpleasant fact is that the USA sat on the sidelines for more two years watching a War between Fascism and Democracy,before intervening only when attacked.We did have a debt to the USA ,the one we only finished paying a couple of years ago on the loans America profited from whilst we fought alone for Civilisation against Evil.
Time to say goodbye 6:35pm on 23 Aug 2009 Very glad your returning,maybe now we will get some objectivity from the BBC Correspondent.Would be nice to see some real analysis rather than just being told how great another Country is when one is living on a British Tax-Payer funded expense account.Many American Friends of mine have a somewhat less sanguine view of their Country than you have.Of course they have to fund their own Medical Care,deal with Creationists,Gun nuts and a Culture that is even more anti-intellectual than our own.
Fiona Hyslop 12:52pm on 10 May 2009 I think that their can be little doubt that Ms Hyslop has been promoted a little further than her talents merit.Her career has been helped by her important role within the Party before it had any hope of achieving power,as well as her status as an early and loyal Salmond supporter.

Sadly she is discovering that it is far easier to to pass clever criticism of those in power than it is to wield it effectively oneself.
On board the G20 express 4:51pm on 24 Mar 2009 Not quite sure what you mean by "Anglo-Saxon" .I am British but as I live in Scotland that term cannot include me or any other of the peoples of the Celtic Nations of the UK.
Weak dailies 12:52pm on 02 Mar 2009 Actually I think the end of the Newspapers will in the long term, be a good thing.People getting their news from internet sites which with a little technological knowledge, can be operated by anyone, will see power drift away from a handful of millionaires who currently control the media to one where everyone can be an opinion former in a Marketplace of ideas.

Corporate control of the Media is stiffling democracy,control of the News media via the internet will ,I hope lead to a much more open Society and force the Politicians to adress the issues that we the voters want them to rather than conspiring with each other and the Rupert Murdochs of this World to shut us out of the decision -making process.
Money talks in Super Bowl 07:15am on 03 Feb 2009 A very perceptive article.The problem is that the EPL and European Football has imported the worst aspects of American Football's structural model and ignored the best.

We now have all-powerful owners,astronomical salaries , corporate interferance and prohibitive season ticket prices.Our elite Leagues will soon see preasure to end relegation as it now has such serious consequences for Clubs.

However,the big Clubs would have no interest (to put it mildly) in the better American ideas like a Draft to ensure that wealthy Clubs have to compete on a level playing field. Nor will the fact that transfer fees are not common in American Football so the elite are not able to consume other Clubs talent impress them.For our top players a Salary Cap and not being to move to where the money is regardless of contracts would be anathama.

Football (Soccer) may be doing well at the moment but the injection of absurd amounts of money has meant that Leagues (including the Champions League) are dominated by a handful of Clubs and the lack of Competition has made the Sport extremly tedious.

Maybe we do have somthing to learn from American Sports before it is too late.
Crucial duel 06:58am on 31 Oct 2008 I very much like your Blogs on UK Politics Nick,but I think you need to do a lot of research on Scotland's.Absolutely nobody is predicting the death of Nationalism,.Not only is the SNP in power,but the Salmond Government is hugely popular,if that were not the case we would not be discussing the possibility of Labour losing this Seat.
A Land of Hope 1:50pm on 28 Oct 2008 It is a pity that Americans do not take more interest in History.If they did they would realise that Empires rise and fall and there will be no exceptions.

Americans have been lucky indeed.They have had a profusion of Natural Resources which have enabled them to attract the industrious and enterprising from the rest of the World.Geographicaly remote from Global chalengers they have been able to build their economy free from the prospect on invasion and conquest.

American optimism has never been put to serious test.

However the downward trajectory must come and while it may not be yet ,it will be one day.

To me the comparisons with the Roman Empire are striking.An overstreached Military and uncontroled inward population migration are only the most obvious.
Uninsured 06:59am on 23 Oct 2008 # 6 . OK lets go through this one more time just for You.The Man from Tehran would be paying for his treatment .No one is saying that America does not have good Doctors.However Many Americans cannot afford to pay.Also many hard-working ,Middle - Class Americans,like a friend of mine,find themselves ruined even if they are Insured when they suddenly get a serious illness.

I am a Conservative,a Pat Buchanan type Conservative,but because of the Healthcare issue,I would be voting Democrat if I was American .That should speak volumes to you.
Here comes the 'S' word 08:34am on 22 Oct 2008 As a (European style) Conservative I am obviously no fan of Socialism.However like nearly all Europeans I accept the need for a National Health Service and strong social safety nets.America is different in the sense that Historicaly,it has never really needed Socialism.

America has been so fortunate in it's vast Natural Resources that there has been plenty to go round.US Governments in the 19th Centuary gave away free farms in the West (a rather Socialist measure ! ) there was always room to expand and to build houses cheaply.

Another factor in the past was that immigrant families and communities practised a form of primitive Socialism and supported each other in times of need.

Of course those days have gone now,America has discovered that resources are indeed finate and her settled population is now far more individualistic and less inclined to help others.As in Europe Community and Family structues are breaking down.

Americans may soon find that a European level of State intervention may be necessary to sustain a healthy society in the 21st Centuary. America's is now entering middle-age and may need a bit more help from her Government.

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